Engineers at Northrop Grumman in Rancho Bernardo will help transform a Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle into an aircraft that can refuel another Global Hawk while in flight. The $33 million project is being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

The project “adds aerial refueling to the capabilities that can be accomplished autonomously by Global Hawks; it opens the door to greatly expanded operational utility for UAVs,” Carl Johnson, a vice president in Northrop’s Advance Concepts program said in a statement.

“And, as a side benefit, it promises to increase the safety and reliability of aerial refueling between manned aircraft by reducing pilot workload.”

UAV operators based on the ground at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert will guide the Global Hawks when aerial testing is ready to begin.